James – Drake Conrad

Born in Ridgewood Valley Hospital, New Jersey and inspired by his late mother, Shirley Ann Conrad-Burton, Drake W. Conrad lived in Hackensack, NJ and Hamburg, NJ until he was 10 yrs. old. Shortly after that, his mother decided to move them back to her home state of Maine, where they moved back and forth from Dover Foxcroft and Dexter, Maine. In Dover Foxcroft he was able to learn from six elderly people how to interact with the elderly with care and compassion in his mother and stepfather‟s, Ansel Cobb, boarding home, which they operated for a few years. This helped Drake with his acting as much as any acting class or traditional school. When they moved back to Dexter for the final move from Dover to Dexter, Drake took up music and drama at Dexter Regional High School after an eight grade event called “Career Day” where he was asked, “what do you want to do when you grow-up.” He replied to the teacher, “an actor.” Since there was no actors to mentor in Dexter he was sent to the local high school to follow the English/Drama teacher, Mr. John Lawrence Barbetta, who helped Drake land his first paying commercial work for a local pharmacy. Since then he has appeared as an extra in Disney’s “Tom and Huck”, HBO’s movie “Recount”, GCO Carpet Commercials, and the FSU Film Schools short films: “Blackeye”, “Tee Time”, “Release”, and “Revolver”, along with many others. His acting training has included classes by: John D’Aquino, Cindy Hogan, Sheila Boy, Chip Chalmers, Michael McGuire and Mr. John Lawrence Barbetta. It was in those classes where Drake has benefitted immensely from the teachers, and now Drake is focusing on perfecting his craft.